A Final Fairy Tale
by Cameron Maroe
Summary: Tifa has been used all her life by her grandmother, and dreams of being rescued. her chance finally comes when the beautiful blonde begins his search for a wife. CLotione shot.


A Final Fairy Tale

Disclaimer:final Fantasy belongs to Square enix, character designs of Cloud and Tifa belong to Tetsuya Nomura, I have nothing to do with Sqaure enix or Nomura (i wish i did though...-drool- that nomura is one cutie pie!) ignore that part. Well please enjoy the story and remember! I'm not profiting off of this story. But you already knew that. Right? Heehee.

I wrote this for my English class , the theme being cinderella it was the first well written story I have ever penned. My others if you've read my work are...well..blah. JK!.

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In the town of Nibelheim, there lived an old woman with two grand daughters; whose names were Scarlett and Tifa. The Old woman owned a small store in the town square as well, it was a grocery and deli store of sorts that was frequented by many, including the Strife family. A Wealthy, and well known family; with a son so devastatingly handsome, that the local girls would swoon and sigh at the sight of him. The son was named Cloud ,he was a very private young man-who always kept to himself. So it was very hard for the local girls to try and flirt with him.

Seeing this, the old woman would scheme, her granddaughter would be the one to snag him!The old woman very much adored,and spoiled her elder grand daughter Scarlett, who in her eyes; was a far greater beauty than any other in their humble town. Scarlett's beauty was the envy of many, the local girls marveled, and admired Scarlett for her fair skin and golden silk like hair; while the boys drooled and fantasized. The old woman would often brag, and dote on Scarlett, for she was her ticket to the easy life.

"Scarlett was destined to be the bride of a rich man" the old woman would often say to anyone who would listen to her drabble "I might even marry her off to that boy, the heir of the Strife family!" she would go on and on, until her listeners _suddenly_ remembered that they had someplace else to be at.

The old womans second grand child, took after her long deceased son, inheriting black hair and brown eyes, the girl was very plain looking in the old womans eyes.

Tifa always fought for her mothers attention, only to be scoffed at and ridiculed for it. Scarlett was the one who would make fun of her, call her names, tell her that she was nothing compared to her. Tifa's blood with boil whenever Scarlett said those things about her. Thankfully, Tifa had been given the patients of a saint, which enabled her to tolerate her older sister. Often, Scarlett would get fed up with Tifa and eventually leave her to clean the store.

Another pet peeve of Tifa's was her sister laziness, the old woman gave both girls chores, but it was Tifa who would get stuck with Scarlett's responsibilities, doubling the brunettes duties. Tifa never complained though! One day...oh yes!, one day she would be rewarded, Tifa knew she would be, it was just a matter of time. But there was only so much that she could take until then...

"Ugh! Sister you disgust me!" Scarlett insulted her, Tifa was scrubbing the floors and was doing the best she could to ignore her older sister "Are you listening to me?" Scarlett shrieked.

"I am, I just chose to ignore you" Tifa replied staunchly. Scarlett fumed, her face scrunched up into an ugly scour, her hands balled up into fists, Tifa looked up and noticed that Scarlett's knuckles were turning white. Goodness!, Tifa had really angered her this time.

"I should have figured your ears were shut!" Scarlett screeched "Especially from someone as lazy,and useless like you!"

Tifa at that instant, Stood up sharply and threw the towel; that she had in her hand, and balled her own fists. Her eyes burned with anger, as she stared down her sister, never in her life, had Tifa felt such fury, perhaps the gates, that repressed what she felt on the inside had finally broken off its hinges.

And it was about time too!.

"Lazy? Useless?...ME?!"Tifa hissed "YOUR the one who is lazy!" Tifa took steps towards Scarlett, who began to cower towards the counter, the color in Scarlett's face began to drain. She had not expected Tifa to finally fight back, not when she had gotten away with it all these years.

Scarlett had to admit, that she was scared! For the first time she was actually frightened...of Tifa!.

"I do all of YOUR chores! I take care of ALL of your responsibilities and you dare call me useless?" Tifa went on, finally grateful to be rid of the burden of keeping these feelings bottled up "And never once did i complain! Until now at least!"

"What is going on here!" The old woman shouted as she barged into the store from the back room door,glancing at Scarlett and then at Tifa, the old woman quickly ran towards the one that shook uncontrollably.

"Dear...are you okay?" the old woman grabbed her grand daughters hand, and felt Scarlett's forehead "Your cold, what happened?"

"Oh mother! Tifa yelled at me! She called me lazy and useless" Scarlett's lips trembled as she fed the old woman false information "She just screamed at me for no reason!" Scarlett began to cry, Tifa's jaw dropped in disbelief, the audacity her sister had!. OH!.

"There there child" The old woman soothed, patting Scarlett's shoulder the old woman quickly glared at her younger grand child "You! Back to work! Don't you ever say those things about Scarlett ever again!, if you do I'll send you to work in the fields!" The old woman threatened, Tifa bit down on her bottom lip, doing her best to not lash out at her grandmother.

"Get back to work Tifa" The old woman ordered, Tifa huffed, and nodded.

"Yes ma'am" Tifa watched her family leave the room, Scarlett sobbed uncontrollably to continue the charade. The brunette slumped her shoulders, was this really how she was going to live her life?. Tifa felt her eye sockets burn with frustration, her nose tingled from the incoming tears that would soon fall down the side of her cheeks.

She had read many fairy tales in her lifetime, many of them had heroines like her; at least in situations. each one of them had a prince on a white horse that came for them, wasn't there one for her too?. Tifa shrugged, shaking her head in disapproval of her own thoughts. She could not think like that, Tifa knew that she was the only one who could change the course of her destiny.

The old woman she called grandmother could not control her forever.

Tifa picked up her cleaning equipment, she stored the towels, buckets, mops and brooms; storing them in the back room locker. After coming back to the shop, Tifa noticed that neither her sister or grandmother had come back. Tifa scrunched up her nose, knowing well from experience that she was going to be the one managing the shop for the rest of the day. Good grief.

That was when she heard a chime, it was from the bell atop of the entrance door, alerting its employees that someone had come in. Looking up Tifa felt her heart race, she had seen him around here before,he had servants--but he liked doing things for himself.

His beauty was the kind that was hard to forget, ash blond hair, bewitching cerulean blue eyes, and curved pale pink lips so tempting and kissable planted upon a perfect round face to hold them all. His clothes hid muscular arms and a lean body, his waist was so perfect for a womens arms to wrap around them. Cloud Strife was perfection,was it not bad enough that he was a rich boy? Did the gods really have to grant him good looks to make him even more unattainable for a plain girl like Tifa?.

"Hello" He greeted the enchanted brunette, who felt her throat tighten up and go dry "It's really hot outside today" Cloud began to make small talk, Tifa felt like the luckiest girl right now, they had talked before a few times, from one of his many visits to the store-so there really was no need for her to feel this way. If not for the knowledge of the other local girls, how they would have loved to be in Tifa's shoes right now, he rarely spoke to women.

Cloud was a little shy around them from what Tifa had observed over the years. not very odd considering he was still young, he had just turned seventeen, many seventeen year old boys acted that way around women. Maybe Cloud was being cautious, Tifa knew that many of the girls in town wanted to marry him for his riches-her sister Scarlett included.

Tifa had large crush on Cloud, she was to afraid to say anything about it. Afraid to be compared to all the other girls who desired him. She would just have to admire him from afar, it was the best thing to do...right?.

"I'll Say" Tifa continued the budding conversation "It makes maintaining a store all that harder" Tifa smiled at him, he looked amused.

"Do you have any of those drinks your store stocks?" He asked her, his tone was light but masculine "I think they are called potions"

"Oh yes! We have them over here" Tifa walked from behind the counter, she led Cloud over to the coolers. She then took a potion out The drink was very cold, perfect for a thirsty patron for a day like this.

"Here you go" she handed it to him, Cloud brought his hand up and gently took it from her, his pale fingers brushed over hers as they wrapped around the drink, it was then that Tifa noticed that his hand was on top of hers, the two of them held onto the potion. Neither seemed to be pulling away from the others grasp.

Tifa noticed this and blushed, she took her hand away. Embarrassed.

"I'm sorry" She stammered. Cloud seemed a little dissapointed somehow.

"It's okay" He assured, he held the potion in both hands, he popped the cap off and began to drink the blue liquid "Just put it on my tab ok?" Cloud said after taking a sip. Tifa nodded, she walked back over to the counter and took out a blue notebook, the name _Strife _written across the front in black ink. Cloud's eye tweaked at the sight of it and walked over to inspect.

"Are those the records?" he asked.

"Yes sir" Tifa replied modestly. Flipping a few pages, she found the last page and scribbled down the name and cost of the purchased item, she then closed the book and put it away. Upon looking up, Tifa saw that Cloud was leaning casually on the counter; with his drink held loosely in his right hand almost dangling really since he held it by the cap opening.

His blue eyes watched her with -dare i say- amazement. Cloud had done this several times before, back when he had visited the store while she sweeped up the floor and manned the register. But this was time it was different; he looked as if...he would..-

"We bill you every two months" Tifa blurted out. Why in the world did she blurt that out of all things?.

"Excuse me?" Cloud asked, puzzled.

"You looked very interested in your families tab" Tifa felt her face burn, she felt like a fool, she had to continue the out of place topic "We count up what you buy and wait two months to send you the bill. Your mother sends a servant to pay for it, and we continue a new tab after that bill" Tifa felt very much like a fool now.

"Oh, That sounds...interesting" Cloud trailed. An uncomfortable silence followed, till Cloud cleared his throat and took out a white envelope. He held the envelope firmly in his hand. Cloud must have noticed Tifa's eyes wonder to it, he began to speak again.

"My father told me to give one of this to every girl in town, its an invitation to enter my families grounds." Cloud explained "Obviously there are too many girls in Nibelheim, so I sent a few servents out to give these to them...I'd be happy if you accepted it" Tifa nodded.

She took the invetation from him, Cloud than bid her farewell and left with his potion in hand. He seemed very happy. Tifa took no time opening up the invitation. Her eyes barely scanned the beautfiully engraved note when it was torn out of her hands, looking sharply to the right; Tifa saw her sister Scarlett- their grandmother at her side.

"Was that Cloud Strife?!" Scarlett screeched, the grandmother glared.

"Why didn't you come get us!" the old woman scolded "You'll be in trouble if this note is important" the old woman and Scarlett began to read.

"Oh Grandmother!' Scarlett squealed "Cloud is looking for a wife!" At that, Tifa's jaw fell toward the floor (not literally). But wow! Cloud...looking for woman to share his life with? Since it was Nibelheim that would be no problem.

Tifa felt her heart jump as well, maybe she had a chance!. He did personally deliver the invitation after all. Tifa's breath began to quicken, could this be her chance with Cloud?.

"Oh Grandmother! We have to get a dress for the party!" Scarlett whined "Its in three days! I have to have the most beautiful dress so that he will notice me!"Tifa scrunched up her nose again, of course, Scarlett was going...how could she compete?.

"Of course dear!" The old woman proclaimed "Let us go find you the finest silk dress in all of Nibelheim, Tifa! Take care of the store!" The old woman had already taken scarlett out, Tifa sighed, it was a nice day dream while it lasted. A record twelve seconds!.

At least she got to spend a bit of time with Cloud before he found himself a wife, that Tifa was sure would not be her. Why would he want her? She was just some spare to her family,the maid; the girl that did nothing but follow orders. Tifa than thought back to her fairy tales, the ones that she read all those nights, and then she realized...that he was her prince on a white horse! Her knight in shining armor!.

Cloud had brought her the key to her freedom, and now she had to use that key to open the door, and live free with the person she had longed for. Tifa just had to take care of the rest, for the fire breathing dragon stood in their way.

Tifa felt a sudden boost of confidence, she felt revitalized, she was going to go and present herself to Cloud in three days...but how could she when it was her sister that would get all the fine dresses and jewels to attend the party with.

And she was sent crashing down again, reality hurts doesnt it?. Tifa picked up the invitation, she might need it for later. Call it luck, but when she scanned the page before her, Tifa felt that confidence come back, Scarlett and the old woman had not read the bottom half of the invitation!. Tifa smiled, she could do this!. Tearing the bottom half off, Tifa locked up the shop and headed out towards the farms.

Those three days passed quickly. The old woman and her spoiled granddaughter arrived promptly on time for the gates opening. They presented the invitation, it was torn, but the servants at the gates accepted it. Curiously, the servents eyed Scarlett, as if she were out of place, the Old woman took this as a sign that Scarlett was a great beauty, and they were just admiring.

"She's only for the Strife boy! Stop staring!" the old woman snapped, the servants said nothing.

Looking at all the girls present, the old woman and Scarlett looked at one another and smirked. These girls looked ridiculous compared to Scarlett! With their plain garments, they looked like cheap street urchins. At least compared to the Old womans granddaughter, mind you this was through the old womans eyes.

Scarlett would capture Cloud's heart for sure. The old woman mad sure to dress Scarlett in her finest, Tifa, her other granddaughter stayed home, with the excuse that she had a flu. Hmph! The better for Scarlett, Tifa the brat would just get in the way. She might make Scarlett upset and ruin her in Cloud's eyes.

Out of the corner of her eye, the old woman saw a woman dressed in a black shirt and shorts, what awful clothes to wear to a party throughn by the Strifes. The young womans face was covered with long bangs and a hat, and sunglasses, making it very hard to identify her. The old woman glared at her and marched up to the house with her grand daughter in tow.

Once inside, The lady of the household. Nuveh Strife, Clouds Father stood alongside his wife and son, cloud of course. All welcomed the guests, the girls immediately marvled how handsome the family was, each member of the family was gorgeous!, blue eyes, blond hair, tall and perfect.

And soon Scarlett would wed the son, The old woman grinned, soon she would be on easy street, soon...

"As you know, the young lady to win this challenge will marry my son. Although these are strange conditions, we have held this challenge for many years in our family" Nuveh spoke "I was married off in this way, and so will my son...so good luck to you in the race!"

Scarlett and the old Woman were taken aback, what Race? What was he talking about?. They had no time to ask questions as all the young girls began being led out to the family fields. Where several chocobos awaited.

Upon seeing the Chocobos many of the girls back down, but there where still a few that were confident enough to take the challenge, the girl in black being one of them. Scarlett and the Old woman had come to far to back down now, even though over dressed, Scarlett climbed onto the Chocobo, with a sneer she declared that she would win...to bad that she had never done her chores. Chocobo's were used heavily in the old woman's farm, Scarlett never really rode them for the lack of doing her chores and being lazy.

The girl in black took the chocobo next to Scarlett, they exchanged glances, Scarlett glared at her, the girl in black only smiled, as if she knew something that Scarlett diddnt' know. Within seconds, the signal went off. And the girls on chocobos began the race. Immediately after starting time, Scarlett was through off, she fell into a nearby puddle of mud that stained and ruined her dress, her hair was a mess and covered in the dirty puddle.

Scarlett screeched and splashed her fists into the puddle, how could she be disgraced!?.

The girl in black on the other hand, led the race, she was ahead of everyone else, and when the girls came back she crossed the finish line. The guests Cheered, as the Nuveh and his wife looked at one another in excitement, this mystery girl would be the one who would marry into the family, Nuveh encouraged Cloud to go to the girl and ask for her Identity.

Cloud looked very glum, like he had been shot through the heart, she had not shown up. Guess he had to make the best of this situtation. He just hoped his bride to be was kind.

Cloud was in front of the girl and about to ask for her name, when the old woman barged in between them.

"You! You pushed my granddaughter off of her chocobo!" she harped "Take responsibility you cheater!" Cloud was mad, he was about to send this old woman away when the girl in black took off her hat and glasses. Her long brunette hair fell, and her eyes sparkled in the sunlight. Cloud, the old woman and Scarlett gasped in surprise-Tifa! It was Tifa who had one the race.

Cloud could not help but smile, he had secretly hoped for her to come and win the race, for he too had harbored a crush and towards the plain girl that the old woman used.

"Tifa! Y-you? How did you-" the old woman stammered.

"I learned to ride chocobo's from the farms, Scarlett had chores on the farms and she never did them, I took her place and learned to care for Chocobo's" Tifa said calmly "So i have to thank you for that Sister" tifa smiled at Scarlett "Thanks to you, I've found my prince"

Scarlett and the old woman stood back, defeated and crushed. Finally realizing the error of their ways, the two left the grounds, making sure to part with Tifa on good terms. Tifa was not petty, she would forgive them in time. Still acknowelding the two as her family.

Scarlett began to work in the store, taking over Tifa's duty. In the store, the farms and in the house, finally learning that being lazy and pretty got you no where.

Tifa on the other hand, accepted Cloud's proposal. They married on the Strife family grounds, her family invited. Tifa and Cloud began a family several years down the rode.

And what's left to say...but that they lived...

Hapilly Ever After...

-Fin-


End file.
